Dr Mollie Hunton

Dr Hunton is a GP at a fund holding practice in Stourbridge. The practice has eight full and two part time partners with 20,000 patients. Within the practice, her special interest is homeopathy.

Homeopathy uses similar acting remedies to treat patients (omeos = similar, pathos = suffering) and was used by the Ancient Greeks and in the Middle Ages.

Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) used like with like treatment in his work. He worked in a poor mining district using old remedies which he felt were making no difference so, disillusioned, he left medicine and went to work in Leipzig as a translator of scientific works. During this time he annotated and translated Cullen's Materia Medica and disagreed with Cullen's description of the action of quinine in malaria. Hahnemann then took quinine himself and documented his reaction. He realised he had written down all the symptoms of malaria. The treatment worked because it acted in a similar way to the poisoning symptoms.

The theory behind this is similia similibus (let like be treated with like). Another example of this is belladonna whose active ingredient is atropine, which has poisoning symptoms of dry mouth, fever, flushing, delirium and thirst. The symptoms match the condition of tonsillitis and so belladonna is homeopathic in the treatment of tonsillitis.

Homeopathy is not concerned with:

• Small doses.
• Dietary supplements e.g. evening primrose oil, glucosamine.
• Herbal medicines e.g. St Johns Wort.
• Anthroposphical medicine e.g. music or art therapy.
• BACH flower remedies.
• Tissue salts.

Homeopathic medicines go through various procedures before they are used on patients. Firstly, they undergo proving when the medicine is tested on healthy human volunteers to see what symptoms are produced so that they can be matched with the disease. They are then potentised to a particular strength.

Patients ask to try homeopathy for a number of reasons:

• Conventional drugs upset them.
• They require a cure as opposed to suppression of a condition, which cannot be achieved with conventional medicine.
• Pregnancy.
• Drugs previously prescribed to treat a condition have been unsuccessful.

Homeopathy can be used when there is no other treatment available, when there are side-effects from conventional drugs and as a back up to other therapies. The problems treated by Dr Hunton in one week can range from breast abscess, nose bleeds, rhinitis and shingles to acne, glandular fever, anxiety and grief.

It is said that homeopathy can provide good improvement in one-third of patients and in one-third improvement occurs beyond all expectations. Therefore 60-70% of patients are improved using homeopathic medicine.

Homeopathy is available on the NHS. There are five homeopathic hospitals in the country, all of which have long waiting lists. Patients can ask their GP to be referred to them.

If considering arranging your own treatment remember to check the qualifications of the homeopath. A non-medically qualified homeopath may not be aware of all the ramifications of diagnoses and treatments.

A homeopathic practitioner will spend a great deal of time building up a detailed patient history. This ensures that every patient is dealt with as an individual - there is no such thing as a pituitary patient in homeopathy! Homeopathic remedies are available for all hormones, but not as replacement therapy. Many people have been treated for side-effects of steroids.

More information about homeopathy and the addresses of faculty doctors can be found on the British Homeopathic Association/Faculty of Homeopathy website. Research information is available on the Internet from the British Homeopathy Library Information Service.